Only 25% of the products that the EWG looked at fell into the “low hazard” category, compared to 40% of products that are marketed to the general public. “As a black woman myself, I was disheartened that black women have fewer options for healthier products when they are choosing from products specifically targeted to them,” says co-author Nneka Leiba, deputy director for research at EWG.

The worst-scoring products aimed at black women, according to the report, were hair relaxers and bleaching products, but some lipsticks, concealers and foundations also scored poorly. Many of the hair relaxers and dyes contained lye which is used to break down chemical bonds in hair. Some chemical hair straighteners have been linked to baldness or a higher risk for growths in a woman’s uterus, the researchers point out. Often, hair products contain fragrances which have chemicals that are not always disclosed on product labels. “Even the [products] that market themselves as ‘no lye’ have other ingredients that are also hazardous and could cause chemical burns,” says study co-author Paul Pestano, an EWG senior database analyst.

Some of the health issues associated with the ingredients in the beauty products included hormone disruption, allergies, reproductive damage, and cancer. Some of the ingredients have suspected—but not proven—health effects. “As highlighted in the study, there is far too little research and far too little known about the ingredients in cosmetics,” Professor Philippa Darbre from the University of Readin told CNN.

To pick the personal care products to assess, the report authors spent a year gathering a list of popular products used and sold at retailers and speciality stores catering to black women. They also looked through aisles at pharmacies and other stores that sold products for people of color. “We know black women don’t only purchase products marketed to them,” says Leiba. “But if a black woman wants to choose products marketed for her, she should be able to find healthy products available to her. This is not acceptable.”

Leiba says that people interested in using the EWG database can look up the products they use to see if they contain ingredients they want to avoid.

“I want this report to empower black women,” says Leiba. “These are issues that affect men and women. When consumers become educated they can demand companies change their formulation, or they can choose other companies to purchase from. People can demand companies prioritize their safety.”

]]>Cosmetics, Nyamirambo, KigaliMariah Carey’s New MAC Holiday Collection Is Just As Glittery As You Think It Would Behttp://time.com/4571979/mariah-carey-mac/
Tue, 15 Nov 2016 20:23:40 +0000http://time.com/?p=4571979]]>

Both Carey and MAC took to their social media accounts to announce the collection with an image of Carey that’s nothing less than fabulous. In the promotional image, she reclines on a leather chaise lounge clad in a bodysuit, both of which are basically dripping in rhinestones and sparkles.

The collection is dropping on Dec. 8 online and in-stores Dec. 15 – 26 and will include glitter encrusted makeup brushes, five shades of lip stick, lip glosses, blushes, false eyelashes, eyeliner, body glitter, and of course, highlighter so you can glow just like Mimi.

The Empire stars are the latest faces of MAC’s #VIVAGLAM campaign, and all the proceeds will go to helping women, men, and children who are living with and affected by HIV/AIDS.

According to a press release, Smollett and Henson, who had her own MAC collaboration release in September, will have a signature fuschia pink lipstick and matching lipglass for #VIVAGLAM that’s due to drop in February 2017.

Until then, feast your eyes on the flawlessness that is Taraji and Jussie.

Fans of Kylie Jenner lip kits are getting their lips glued shut. And unlike the Kylie Jenner lip challenge — where people tried to plump their lips using shot glasses — it’s not intentional.

Shoppers unknowingly became victims when they purchased to knock-off products claiming to be the real Kylie Cosmetics lip kits, but are not actually affiliated with the nascent brand.

19-year-old Jenner, who launched the multi-million dollar Kylie Cosmetics brand in 2015, took to Snapchat on Wednesday, warning shoppers of potentially dangerous knockoffs that allegedly use ingredients like glue.

“The only place to get my products is kyliecosmetics.com, everything else is fake. these other websites are making fake product, it might look exactly like mine, but it’s not mine,” Jenner said on Snapchat. “Make sure you guys check the URL because these other websites are selling fake product,” she added.

Jenner’s beauty products are sold exclusively through the Kylie Cosmetics website, not through other websites or beauty retailers like Sephora. The original product, the Kylie Lip Kit–which typically sells out within hours–retails for $29 and includes one liquid lipstick and a lip liner. Recently, the brand has expanded its line to include eyeshadow palettes, “Kyshadow,” that sells for a whopping $42 and includes nine colors.

Of course, shoppers aren’t just buying the makeup–they’re buying in to a slice of the Kardashian-Jenner empire. The Kylie Cosmetics brand, called the “fast-fashion” of beauty, is owned by Seed Beauty, a company that also manufactures ColourPop makeup, which uses ingredients similar to the Kylie products but sells for a fraction of the price.

This isn’t the first time that Jenner’s makeup company has faced customer problems. Kylie Cosmetics initially received a ‘F rating’ from the Better Business Bureau for products allegedly arriving late (or not at all) before it was changed to ‘No rating.’ Now, the company has a “B” rating, mostly because of “Problems with Product/Service” and the company’s relatively young existence, according to BBB.

Charles, who’s still a senior in high school, is a makeup artist with nearly 430k followers. He’s the first male ambassador for the cosmetics giant in its nearly 60 years as a brand. He will appear in print, television and digital ads both with Perry and by himself.

Both Charles and Perry announced the news of the new CoverBoy via Instagram, as did the CoverGirl account. In one of the videos posted to the CoverGirl account, Charles breaks the news by telling everyone being a part of the storied brand is “living out one of my biggest dreams.”

Watch the full video below and keep scrolling to see more of Charles and Perry’s upcoming campaign.

Jessica Alba stopped by The Late Show on Thursday not to promote a film, but her business, the Honest Company, which as Stephen Colbert noted is where “your baby might know her from.”

Before she could describe her company, though, Colbert had a few questions about Alba’s tattoo. Alba, however, felt explaining the tattoo that she got in the wake of a breakup was “unnecessary.” Colbert dropped the subject, but moved on to taste-testing the Honest Company’s hair and beauty products, which are not for eating. As Alba watched in horror, Colbert spritzed the sea salt spray in his mouth, while teasing her: “That’s really salty,” he said, adding, “Jessica Alba says you can put it on popcorn!”

At last, Alba meted out her revenge by giving Colbert a very public—and very silly looking—makeover: “I turned you into a hipster millennial!”

]]>Key Speakers At 2015 The Dreamforce ConferenceA Chinese-Born Miss America Contestant Was Called Ugly After Winning State Crownhttp://motto.time.com/4484916/chinese-miss-america-arianna-quan/
Fri, 09 Sep 2016 04:00:36 +0000http://motto.time.com/4484916]]>Arianna Quan made history when she became the first Asian-American and naturalized citizen to be named Miss Michigan – but not everyone was happy about it.

“A lot of people have reached out to me, both extremely negatively and positively,” Quan, 23, tells People. “It’s been a very polarizing response. It’s been really interesting to see the discussions that have been erupting from just me being crowned, and it’s been an extremely humbling experience to be a part of those conversations.”

Quan’s crowning received media attention domestically as well as abroad in her native China.

“All this negativity came out, especially about my appearance and how I’m apparently unfit to represent the Chinese population because I’m ‘ugly,’ ” she says.

“I see it as a part of my job as a state title-holder and potential Miss America,” says Quan. “My goal is to just drive the conversation in an important direction, because there are so many things we have to discuss about immigration and diversity in this country right now.”

“It’s something that started this past year when I started competing because of what I saw throughout the selection year,” she says. “Immigrants and first-generation Americans are deeply underrepresented. My platform is about engaging minorities in this country, and about prompting Americans that have been here for generations to celebrate their culture.”

The collection will include a black eyeliner, mascara, two shades of MAC’s signature Mineralize Skinfinish highlighter, a face brush, and a lipstick coyly named, Strip Me Down; if the announcement photos are any indication, Cookie’s glow is going to be a hot commodity this fall.

You wouldn’t swallow a spoonful of toxic cosmetic ingredients. But in some ways, smearing them under your arms in the form of deodorant or antiperspirant may be worse.

“When you eat something, it’s broken down by your liver and digestive system,” says Heather Patisaul, Ph.D., an associate professor of biology at North Carolina State University. “But when you put something on your skin, there are times when it can enter your bloodstream without being metabolized.”

Patisaul spends most of her time studying known and potential endocrine disruptors—chemicals that may mess with the function of your body’s reproductive and developmental hormones. She says rubbing something on your skin doesn’t mean all—or even any—of it will make its way into your bloodstream; it depends on the chemical. But blood tests show that many of the substances commonly included in deodorant products can, in fact, worm their way past the epidermis and into the body.

Research also shows that some compounds used in deodorant are absorbed and stored in fat cells, which are prevalent in the underarm area, says Philip Harvey, Ph.D., editor in chief of the Journal of Applied Toxicology. Your underarm tissue also contains hormone receptors, which could react to some of those same deodorant ingredients, Harvey says.

For all these reasons, experts like Harvey and Patisaul are worried certain compounds in antiperspirant and deodorant could cause or contribute to developmental or reproductive issues, as well as cancer. (Other research shows some of these substances can mess with the microorganisms—many of them beneficial—that live on and in your body.)

Here are 5 deodorant ingredients of concern.

Parabens

There are many different parabens, which are used as preservatives in deodorant and other personal care products. Research suggests some parabens may interfere with the way your body produces and regulates estrogen and other hormones, Patisaul says. “There’s estrogen-sensitive tissue in the breast, so the worry is that if you put parabens close to this tissue every day, they may promote the growth of cancer cells,” she explains. That goes for men as well as women.

That said, both the American Cancer Society and the National Cancer Institute say there’s not “conclusive evidence” linking deodorant chemicals to cancer. But there’s lab evidence to back up Patisaul’s concerns. Research from Philippa Darbre, an oncologist at the University of Reading in the U.K., has shown that mixing different parabens can strengthen their “estrogenic” effects. But proving that this mixture could cause or contribute to cancer is nearly impossible. “Cancer is a complex multistage process, and its development can take many years,” Darbre says.

Much more research is needed, she adds. But in her view, the existing evidence suggests that long-term, low-dose mixtures of environmental chemicals—including parabens—“could cause cancer.” (See another piece, “Can Deodorant Give You Cancer?” here.)

Aluminum

Typically found only in antiperspirants, this metal can cause “gene instability” in breast tissue, Darbre’s research shows. This instability can cause changes than may promote the growth of tumors or cancer cells, she explains. “Over 50% of breast cancers start in the upper outer quadrant of the breast local to the underarm region,” Darbre says. While that’s not proof aluminum is to blame, breast cancer incidence tends to align with use of products that contain the metal. Especially if you shave under your arms, applying a product containing aluminum to that broken skin could be bad news, Darbre says.

Still, as TIME has reported: According to the American Cancer Society’s website, there is no “clear” or “direct” link between aluminum and cancer. The National Cancer Institute site says “more research is needed.”

Triclosan

Cosmetic manufacturers add this chemical to many products in order to prevent bacterial contamination, and to kill bacteria on the surface of the skin, as in anti-acne products, some deodorants and antiperspirants, and in sanitizing hand soaps. Triclosan is so common that 75% of Americans have detectable levels of the stuff in their urine. The FDA says there are no known hazards associated with triclosan. But the agency also acknowledges that the research has evolved since it ussued that designation, and the agency could soon change its stance.

“There’s evidence from amphibians and fish is that triclosan impairs thyroid function, which is crucial for brain development,” Patisaul adds. She says blood tests show triclosan is “at the high end” when it comes to chemicals that swish around in our bodies. “To my knowledge, there aren’t any clear benefits associated with it when used in underarm products.”

While you may think of testosterone as a strictly male hormone, women also produce the stuff, and it plays a role in energy and muscle maintenance. “The greatest concern when it comes to phthalates is that they could impair reproductive ability in men, or that they could impact fetal development in pregnant women,” Patisaul says. Research has also linked phthalates to lower IQs and higher rates of asthma.

Phthalates are typically present in any product with a fragrance that lingers after it’s been used or applied; phthalates are partly what makes smells stick. That means that everything from body wash to shampoo to lotion to hairspray to soap.

Fragrance

Almost every scented product has “fragrance” or “perfume” listed among its ingredients. And it’s impossible to know just what chemicals are concealed by those seemingly benign terms because scents are protected under trade law. “It could be phthalates, or it could be substances that cause allergies or skin irritation,” Patisaul says. Even smelling scented products on other people can cause an allergic reaction.

How to protect yourself:

If these compounds are of concern to you, Darbre says ditching all underarm deodorant products is the only way to ensure you’re not exposing yourself to potentially toxic chemicals. Short of that, Patisaul recommends shopping for fragrance-free natural deodorant. Finally, shop for products labeled paraben-, fragrance- andfree, and check the ingredients list to make sure triclosan isn’t included.

“The more people spend their money on products that don’t contain these chemicals, the more manufacturers will move away from using them,” she adds.

]]>You Asked Deoderent CancerH&M’s Newest Swimsuit Model Is 60 Years Oldhttp://motto.time.com/4381373/hm-swimsuit-model-60/
Fri, 24 Jun 2016 12:13:50 +0000http://motto.time.com/4381373]]>H&M has a fresh face for its swimsuit line. She just happens to be four decades older than most models.

Gillean McLeod is a 60-year-old fashion stylist and model, and she appears in a black one-piece swimsuit in H&M’s newest swimwear campaign, USA Today reports.

McLeod didn’t even begin her modeling career until she was in her fifties. “I thought about modeling when I was a late teen, but I didn’t have the greatest skin and didn’t have the greatest self-confidence,” she said. “I think it’s better at this point in my life.”

Now McLeod stays fit through Pilates, hiking and swimming. “I think that women need to be comfortable with themselves. You just have to start with yourself, you can’t look at these retouched magazines,” she told the newspaper. “You have to love yourself.”